EPISODE 1: Kate Walsh
Great friend and actress. Credits include Grey's Anatomy, 13 Reasons Why, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Legion, Girls Trip, Fargo, Private Practice. Founder of Boyfriend Perfume.

Kate's Books:
• Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
• Howards End, by Ian Forster
• Barrel Fever and Other Short Stories, by David Sedaris
• Away, by Amy Bloom
• A Visit From The Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan

Other Books Discussed:
Women Who Run With The Wolves, Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes,PhD. | The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams | The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster | The Magus  and The Collector, by John Fowles | Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

EPISODE 2: Damon Lindelof
American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, nominee of 12. One of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Co-creator and showrunner of Lost (my former boss). Other writing and producing credits include The Watchmen (HBO), Cowboys & Aliens, Prometheus, The Leftovers (HBO) and Star Trek into Darkness.

Damon's Books:
• The Stand, by Stephen King
• The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
• Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
• The Underground Railroad, by Coleson Whitehead

Other Books Discussed:
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Firestarter, by Stephen King | On Writing, by Stephen King | Carrie, by Stephen King | Animal Farm, by George Orwell | Lord of the Flies, by William Golding | Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling | A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R.R. Martin | Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand | Future Shocks, by Alan Moore | Judge Dredd comic book series | Swamp Thing comic book series | Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? written by Alan Moore | Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens | Bleak House, by Charles Dickens | Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance | Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild | Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, by Lindy West | War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

EPISODE 3: Danzy Senna
American novelist and essayist with a focus on issues of gender, race and motherhood. Author of Caucasia (a national bestseller), Symptomatic: The Memoir, Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History, You Are Free, and New People (one of Time magazine’s Top Ten Novels of the year). Professor of English at the University of Southern California

Danzy's Books:

• Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin
• Quicksand, by Nella Larsen
• The Easter Parade, by Richard Yates
• The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
• A Handful of Dust, by Evelyn Waugh

Other Books Discussed:
New People, by Danzy Senna | You Are Free Stories, by Danzy Senna | Where Did You Sleep Last Night: A Personal History, by Danzy Senna | Caucasia, by Danzy Senna | The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison | The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James | Lullaby, by Leila Slimani | The Stranger, by Albert Camus | Passing, by Nella Larsen | The Awakening, by Kate Chopin | Transit, by Rachel Cusk | A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates, by Blake Bailey | Symptomatic, by Danzy Senna | Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder, by Evelyn Waugh | Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon | Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace | The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon | Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro | The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro | The Invention of Solitude, by Paul Auster | Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee

EPISODE 4: Dawn O'Porter
British writer, director, and television presenter. Author of Paper Aeroplanes, Goose, The Cows, Diaries of an Internet Lover, and 'This Old Thing: Fall in Love with Vintage'. Host of Get it On podcast. TV appearances in BBC Documentary "Super Slim Me", How to Look Good Naked, Gideon's Army, Trapped, Spies of Mississippi and more.

Dawn's Books:
• A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf
• Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
• We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
• Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson
• Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore, by Terry Newman

Other Books Discussed:
Paper Aeroplanes, by Dawn O’Porter | The Sellout, by Paul Beatty | The Cows, by Dawn O’Porter | Mating in Captivity, by Esther Perel | The State of Affairs, by Esther Perel | Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys | Cider with Rosie, by Laurie Lee | Gut Symmetries, by Jeanette Winterson | Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson | Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson | The Bible

EPISODE 5: Barbara Bestor
Award-winning American Architect. Principal of Bestor Architecture, and the vision behind LA landmarks such as Intelligentsia Coffee, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, the Beats by Dr. Dre headquarters and Nasty Gal headquarters. Elected to the AIA's College of Fellows in 2017.

Barbara's Books:
• The Code of the Woosters, by PG Wodehouse
• The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James
• Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, by Robert Venturi
• Five California Architects, by Esther McCoy
• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

Other Books Discussed:
Wizard of Oz series, by Frank L. Baum | Sherlock Holmes series, by Arthur Conan Doyle | The Jolly Corner, by Henry James | Five Architects: Eisenman, Graves, Gwathmey, Hejduk & Meier, by Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier | We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Old Filth, by Jane Gardam | Moby Dick, by Herman Melville | Tales of the City series, by Armistead Maupin

EPISODE 6: John Burnham Schwartz
Critically acclaimed novelist and screenwriter. Author of Bicycle Days, Reservation Road, Claire Marvel, The Commoner, Northwest Corner and most recently The Red Daughter. Recipient of a Lyndhurst Foundation Award. Nominee of a 2018 Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing. Literary Director of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference and host of the literary podcast Beyond the Page: The Best of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference.

John's Books:
• The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion, by Ford Madox Ford
• Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, by Anton Chekhov
• The Regeneration Trilogy, by Pat Barker
• Seize the Day, by Saul Bellow
• Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee

Other Books Discussed:

Bicycle Days, by John Burnham Schwartz; The Commoner, by John Burnham Schwartz | Where† The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak | A Feast for All Seasons, The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James | Last Night, by James Salter; Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates | The Hunters, by James Salter, Light Years, by James Salter | The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald | The Bible | The Lady with the Dog, by Anton Chekhov | The Steppe, by Anton Chekhov | Errand, by Raymond Carter | Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited, by Vladimir Nabokov | Reservation Road, by John Burnham Schwartz | Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel, by George Saunders | Life Class, by Pat Barker | Humboldt's Gift, by Saul Bellow | Herzog, by Saul Bellow | The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow | The Victim, by Saul Bellow | Dangling Man, by Saul Bellow | Waiting for the Barbarians, by J.M.Coetzee | Life & Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee | The Master of Petersburg, by J.M. | Coetzee Boyhood: Scenes From Provincial Life, by J.M. Coetzee | Ulysses, by James Joyce | Finnegan's Wake, by James Joyce | Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy | War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

EPISODE 7: Nancy Baker Cahill
Award-winning artist. Founder and Artistic Director of 4th Wall, a free Augmented Reality art platform. Featured in the New York Times, Frieze Magazine, and The Art Newspaper. Included in ARTnews’ list of 2021 'Deciders'. TEDx speaker and a member of the Guild of Future Architects. Winner of the Williams College Bicentennial Medal of Honor. Received a 2022 C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellowship.

Nancy's Books:
• To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• Inferno, by Dante Alighieri
• The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning, by Maggie Nelson
• Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
• Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, by Gregory Boyle

Other Books Discussed:
Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality, by Jason Lanier | Howards End, by Ian Forster | A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R.R. Martin | Emma, by Jane Austen | Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee | Purgatorio, by Dante Alighieri | Paradiso, by Dante Alighieri | Hamlet, by William Shakespeare | Cain's Book, by Alexander Trocchi | Darling Nikki, by Maggie Nelson in The New Yorker | Fortune Smiles, by Adam Johnson | The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New, by Annie Dillard | The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy | Foreskin’s Lament, by Shalom Auslander | Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, by Gregory Boyle | Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

EPISODE 8: Emily Mortimer
British actress, screenwriter and producer. Credits include Doll and Em, The Newsroom, Shutter Island, Lars and the Real Girl, Lovely and Amazing, and the new Mary Poppins. Recipient of an Independent Spirit Award.

Emily's Books:
• A Hero of Our Time, by Mikhail Lermontov
• Tale Of Mr. Tootleoo, by Bernard & Elinor Darwin
• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
• Hons and Rebels, by Jessica Mitford
• The River Cafe Cookbook, by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray

Other Books Discussed:
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy; Masquerade, by Lermontov | War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy | Burglar Bill, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg | The Amazing Bone, by William Steig | Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig | Der Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffmann | A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens | PG Wodehouse series of books | Sherlock Holmes series, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens | Seed of Zeus: Gods, Heroes and Monsters of Greek Mythology, by Mark Diller | The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford | Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford | The American Way of Death, by Jessica Mitford | A Feast for All Seasons | My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgård

EPISODE 9: Piers Torday
Award-winning British author and playwright. Recipient of the Guardian’s Children’s Fiction Prize Stockton Children’s Book of the Year, and Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year for his debut children’s book The Dark Wild. Nominee for the Carnegie Award. Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the UKLA Award. Other books include There May Be a Castle, A Wisp of Wisdom and Winter Magic. 

Piers' Books:
• The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding, by Beatrix Potter
• The Swimming-Pool Library, by Alan Hollinghurst
• A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert
• The Underground Railroad, by Coleson Whitehead

EPISODE 10: Iggy, Phoebe, Jack & Hayden
Iggy (10) and Phoebe (8) are brother and sister. Jack (11) and Hayden (10) are best friends.

Their Books:
• Ig 1: The Odyssey (Graphic Novel version), by Homer. Illustrated by Gareth Hinds
• Ig 2: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein
• Phoebe 1: Raymie Nightingale, by Kate DiCamillo
• Phoebe 2: Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo

EPISODE 11: Amanda Foreman
Author of award-winning best sellers, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and A World on Fire. Her novelThe Ascent of Woman has been made into a BBC/Netflix series. Columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Co-Founder of House of SpeakEasy.

Amanda's Books:
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 by Linda Colley
• In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory In Women's Development by Carol Gilligan

Other Books Discussed:
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, by Amanda Foreman | A World On Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided, by Amanda Foreman | The World Made By Women, by Amanda Foreman | Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett | The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett | The Hunger Games series of books, by Suzanne Collins | Persuasion, by Jane Austen Beowolf | The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, by Sir James George Frazer | The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling | The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides | The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis | Bleak House, by Charles Dickens | The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

EPISODE 12: Eric Garcetti
American politician and diplomat. 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles. Member of the Democratic Party. LA’s first elected Jewish mayor, and its second consecutive Mexican American mayor. The youngest mayor in over 100 years, having been 42 at the time of his inauguration. In July 2021, President Biden announced he will nominate Garcetti to the position of United States Ambassador to India.

Eric's Books:
• Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges
• Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson
• Stone, Paper, Knife by Marge Piercy

Other Books Discussed:
Dr. Seuss series of books, by Theodor Seuss Geisel | Harry Potter series of books, by J.K. Rowling | Theses on the Philosophy of History, by Walter Benjamin | Miss Burma, by Charmaine Craig | The Good Men, by Charmaine Craig | Available Light, by Marge Piercy | The Book of Sand, by Jorge Luis Borges | Atlas Obscura | The Ascent of Man, by Jacob Bronowski | How Proust Can Change Your Life, by Alain De Botton | Madeline series of books, by Ludwig Bemelman and John Bemelmans Marciano | The Witches of Benevento series of books, by John Bemelmans-Marciano | Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words, by John Bemelmans-Marciano | Toponymity: An Atlas of Words by John Bemelmans-Marciano | Whatever Happened to the Metric System?: How America Kept Its Feet, by John Bemelmans-Marciano | The Tempest, by William Shakespeare | The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman | The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign, by Thomas Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie | The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, by Robert Caro | Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, by Frances Dinkelspiel | Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown, by Marc Weingarten | Eternity Street: Violence and Justice in Frontier Los Angeles, by John Mack Faragher | Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, by Todd S. Purdum | The Dying Grass, by William T. Vollmann